Imperial

Hartford, John
Norman, N. P.

picture

Imperial (Steamboat)
River steamers
Steamboats

The former Red Rive Line Packet IMPERIAL when she operated in lower coast trade. The Imperial was built out of the Dakotah, a well known Missouri River steamboat built by Captains Hunter Ben Jenkins and George Keith. As the Dakotah she was a sister ship of the Wyoming and the Montana. She was built in 1870 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her dimensions were: length, 252 feet; bearm, 48 1/2 feet; depth of hold, 5 1/2 feet. She had four boilers (2 flues each), 42 inches in diameter and 26 feet long. Her engines included the cylinders, 18 inches in diameter with a 7 foot stroke. Her wheel was 22 1/2 feet in diameter with 29 foot buckets. Later she was sold to the Red River Line and Captain W. T. Scovell became her master. She was dismantled in 1893 at Jeffersonville, Indiana, by the Howards and rebuilt into the Imperial for the Scovell Brothers, W. T., Mack and Noah. She had a hull length of 210 feet by 41 feet by 7 feet. She had 7 foot guards which gave her a width of 55 feet over all. Her engine and upper works were from the Dakotah. Noah and W. T. Scovell were her masters. The Imperial ran on the Red River for some time, and was then sold to the Mississippi Packet Company for service in the New Orleans and Bayou Sara trade. When worn out she was laid up for 18 months then dismantled in Harvey's Canal and moved to Algiers, Louisiana. The shrimp ate the oakum out of her seams and she finally sank on the night of June 16, 1912, from swells caused by passing tugs.

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Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library